Types of help

1.1 Specific one-off payments

Specific emergency financial assistance is intended to meet unforeseeable new situations which might occur during the university year. A one-off payment is possible if, after an appropriate evaluation, the situation is serious enough to jeopardize the continuation of the student’s studies.

The specific one-off payment may be held concurrently with a grant awarded on social grounds, an annual emergency aid award, a mobility supplementary allowance or a merit award.

Any student who is enrolled in a programme in an authorized institution enrolling students qualifying for student social security can apply for such a payment. In exceptional cases, if the circumstances and the situation of the student justify it, several specific payments can be made in the same university year.

Steps to be taken to apply for such a payment

1- Make an appointment with the Social Assistant responsible for your particular study sector.

2- Fill in an application dossier and send it to CROUS with all the supporting documentation requested.

3- A reference report made by the CROUS social assistant for your area of studies.

4- Consideration of the application by a selection committee

1.2 An annual FNAU emergency award

This annual award applies to perennial situations in which a normal higher-education grant awarded on social grounds cannot be made because at least one of the conditions required by the Ministry of Higher Education and Research cannot be met by the student concerned. This annual grant cannot be combined with a grant awarded on social grounds but on the other hand it can run concurrently with a mobility grant or a merit award.

Who qualifies for such an award?

a student who resumes studies over the age of 28 who does not have financial resources above the ceiling set on the regular grant evaluation scale, on condition that the candidate does not benefit from other social payments (such as unemployment benefit, income support or other welfare payments).

a student of French nationality or a national of another member state of the European UnionFor more info…

How to benefit from this award?

To benefit from this award, you must fulfil the conditions concerning qualifications, level of study, and nationality and not fall into the categories for exclusion in the regulations relating to the higher education grants awarded on social grounds.

You must also meet the same conditions of attendance and fulfilment of course requirements as for those of any other grantholding student. For more info …

Method of payment of this FNAU award

The annual award is payable monthly for ten months over the university year. It cannot be extended over the long summer vacation.

The total amount of this annual emergency award corresponds to one of the categories (échelons) applicable to calculating the grants awarded on social grounds (but without counting the category zero) This emergency award is considered as equivalent to a regular social grant, giving the right to exoneration of university fees and student social security contributions. A renewed annual emergency grant can be awarded for the following year under the same conditions so long as it does not exceed the limit of the total number of awards.

1.3 FSDIE

The Universities Joseph Fourier, Stendhal and Pierre Mendès France devote part of their budget to the solidarity and student initiatives development fund (fonds de solidarité et de développement des initiatives étudiantes (FSDIE) to provide help for students who are the most in difficulty.

These funds are administered by CROUS through a special agreement alongside the national emergency fund which comes from the state budget.